‘Spotify for Textbooks’: What a One-Line Comparison Does for a Startup

What happened

Tech.eu’s profile of Perlego describes a subscription-based digital library of more than 1.5 million books. It includes accessibility features such as text-to-speech, adjustable fonts, a dyslexia-friendly mode and an AI research tool built on its licensed catalogue. The article says Perlego has raised over €70 million, is active in more than 180 countries and earns more than 55 per cent of its revenue in North America. Ithaka, the nonprofit behind JSTOR, took part in its last round.

Founder and CEO Gauthier Van Malderen says the problem was that students were “sharing books or turning to illegal websites”.

Why it matters

A comparison to a brand people already understand does three jobs at once: it explains the model, sets the price expectation and makes the idea easy to repeat. The risk is that the comparison becomes the brand. What makes Perlego worth choosing is the licensed catalogue and the accessibility tools, and those need their own words.

What it means for your brand

• Borrow a shorthand to start the conversation. Then earn your own description. Our guide to brand positioning examples shows both steps.
• Name the problem you solve. The founder’s line is about the problem, not the product. See how to write a brand positioning statement.
• Show the features that make you different. Accessibility is the proof here. Talk to us about startup branding and what to put first.

Cover photo by Makmot Robin on Unsplash.